Goat Simulator: 1 Year On

It has been a whole year since the release of Goat Simulator, back on April Fool’s of 2014. Met with some harsh criticism from some, and a lot of love from others, Goat Simulator divided people. What’s it like 1 year later?

Since its release, Goat Simulator has had a number of updates and additions, including two large maps, as well as a great amount of support from modders. From new goats, to maps, to one which plays Ave Maria when in slow motion, it certainly isn’t a one trick pony (no, I refuse to make that pun) in the eyes of many people.

Of the two new maps, one is Goat MMO Simulator, a parody of the many tropes you find in MMOs. Complete with Ganondwarf, Twistram, and a host of other easter eggs, it brought a sense of humour to the game that previously wasn’t there, the game was previously an embodiment of ‘random’ humour. I’m not a huge fan of MMOs, so I’m sure I missed a lot of references in Goat MMO Simulator, but it was absolutely hilarious to me, where the original map, essentially a physics sandbox, was very boring.

I’m of the opinion that a game’s humour should be inherent to its design, it should be found in writing, visuals, music, or simply the delivery. Goat Simulator originally was the opposite, the humour came out of what you did to the game. You might love that, I find it irritating, annoying, and lazy.

Now, however, with the addition of these new features, Goat Simulator has turned into something genuinely funny from a YouTuber’s dream. The parody of MMOs is spot on, allowing the community to make great mods gives so much more content, and the game has flourished.

This isn’t wholly down to the developers, however. Modder Geneosis has created a pack of 32 new goats for you to play with. Sparkierlamb has created The Lambyrinth. If you’re still a fan of it, there’s a Shrek mod for you too. If you were a fan of the original ‘sense of humour’ the game had, these modders have got your back covered.

At release, Goat Simulator was a joke. It supplied no enjoyable gameplay, no social commentary, absolutely nothing. To me, it was really the butt of a joke. Instead of leaving it, Coffee Stain Studios have taken on the challenge of making it an enjoyable game and succeeded. It might have taken some time, but over the past year, Goat Simulator went from the butt of many a joke and became hilarious. It started off as a framework, and has had its required injection of humour, to make a genuinely funny game. You might have given the game a try at release and hated it, but I’d recommend trying it again. It might have taken a year to be a recommendable game, but it got there in the end.